Theater Online - New York Theater Reviews

Medea: We were born women – useless for honest purposes, but in all kinds of evil skilled practitioners (verses 412-13).

According to Greek Mythology, Greece was the apex of order and civilized values of honor and self-control, sophrosyne, with disdain for the barbarous excess evidenced in emotions and irrational behavior. In Euripides’ Medea, Jason states, “That you [Medea] left a barbarous land to become a resident of Hellas; here you have known justice; you have lived in a society where force yields place to law” (verses 535-37). It’s clear that Medea is a foreigner, originally from the Asiatic Black Sea area of Colchis, and her culture, which is outside the boundaries of Greece, considered boorish. But, in this new Corinth, where Jason betrays Medea and takes a new royal wife, the Chorus says, “Honour remains no more in the wide Greek world, but is flown to the sky” (verses 440-41). So thematically, Will Le Vasseur has adapted this classic Greek tragedy, in Redd Tale Theatre Company’s presentation of MADDY: A Modern Day Medea.
 

We’re immediately drawn into the environment by the image of the blue and white double-wide sitting on top cinderblocks and a wooden palette-like stoop with an ivy-adorned toilet and two colorful lawn chairs in the astro-turfed front yard. Cleetus’s Corinthian Trailer Park serves as our backdrop while we observe Maddy, distraught in her home, and listen to the gossip of two neighborly southern women, Flo and Edna, in chorus, discussing Maddy’s fate in reference to Billy-Jay, the father of the two children. Playwright/Director, Will Le Vasseur, has chosen to hold true to the Greek themes of harmony verses madness and how this natural order is reversed when a woman, betrayed by false oaths, is forced to take revenge on this unwelcoming city. The rest of the play reinvents the traditional story in terms of a blend of characters and dialogue: the Nurse, Tutor, and Chorus are equally reincarnated as Flo and Edna, the uncouth southern neighbors; and Maddy is greeted by a stranger from her past, Alan, with an ultimatum, similar to Ageus’s function in Medea. Redd Tale Theatre Company’s presentation of MADDY creates the world of Euripides’ Medea but relies well on its own creativity to develop a retelling of the plot and characters within the Greek themes of order verses chaos and rational action verses emotional reaction.

The directorial choice to use voice-overs to layer the reactions of the chorus and the events that occur off-stage expertly conveys a sense of gossip and a connection to the media. The voices of Flo (Heather Shields) and Edna (Rainbow Dickerson) create the exposition to the play and immediately thrust us into the sounds of the Corinthian Trailer Park: PBR cans foaming and Arizona Iced-Tea bottles popping. Rainbow Dickerson’s Edna is a comical cussing gossip machine, familiar to any Trailer Park female stereotype. And Heather Shields emerges dexterously as Flo, with a lowbrow southern vernacular drawl and earthly swagger juxtaposing Lynn Kenny’s coolly formal and slightly sci-fi speaking Maddy, the passionate, yet, vengeful elemental. Blaine Pennington portrays the good-old boy Billy-Jay with a youthful naiveté and charm. James Stewart’s Twilight-zone style Alan effectively counters the culture of Cleetus’s Corinthian Trailer Park, thus establishing his and Maddy’s alien roots. Ben Strothmann’s Cleetus cameo successfully instigates the dramatic action and the excessive tension between the Corinthian townsfolk and Maddy, the foreigner. The cast adeptly lures us into the tragic chaos of Vasseur’s interpretation of a modern day Medea in the Corinthian Trailer Park, manipulating the dialect, dialogue, and even props with prowess. The final moments, the climax of Maddy’s madness and revenge, resound through the composition of a thunderous storm, violent cries, winds of fury, and destruction of the family home in a clever induction of three-dimensional environmental theatre.

To revive a Greek classic is a challenge, but to reinvent the enigmatic myth with new plotlines, characters, and dialogue that consistently retains thematic homage to the original is masterful. Redd Tale Theatre Company’s presentation of MADDY: A Modern Day Medea proficiently infuses the original classic themes, plot, and characters with immediate relevance.

The second presentation of the hour and a half long evening is Anton Chekhov’s THE SWAN SONG, directed by Lynn Kenny. The short drama reveals an old actor, Vasili (Will Le Vasseur), who awakens, post-show, to a darkened stage lit by candlelight after having celebrated his 68th birthday. Through the hazy golden glow, we witness a tragic clown reminiscing his past triumphs and failures onstage and in life. With the aide of his prompter, Nikita (Ben Strothmann), Vasili recounts memorable performances from King Lear to Hamlet. Vasili existentially questions his life and where he should go after his 68th birthday. In the end, after the adoring fans have dispersed, is there anyone else but yourself that truly cares for you and whether you live on“

Lynn Kenny has directed a taught production. Will Le Vasseur portrays a beautifully tragic clown with comedy and sadness. The dexterously utilized candle to illuminate faces and to create dramatic character silhouettes and theatrical shadows is cleverly manipulated by Vasseur throughout the one-act drama. Ben Strothmann, as Nikita, nimbly counters Vasili’s wandering. He serves as our visceral link to the mental meanderings of the old man.

Redd Tale Theatre Company’s presentation of THE SWAN SONG effectively induces an empathetic response towards the decline of an old man and his career as a performer.

Redd Tale Theatre Company packs a dramatic punch with MADDY: A Modern Day Medea and THE SWAN SONG, tugging intently at our emotions to sympathize with these tragic characters with unfortunate fates. Both stories are worth the low-cost of admission, so go, and experience the pathos.